hardscrabble

American  

[hahrd-skrab-uhl] / ˈhɑrdˌskræb əl /

adjective

1. providing or yielding meagerly in return for much effort; demanding or unrewarding.

   the hardscrabble existence of mountainside farmers.

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hardscrabble British  

/ ˈhɑːdˌskræbəl /

noun

1. (modifier) (of a place) difficult to make a living in; barren

2. great effort made in the face of difficulties

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Etymology

Origin of hardscrabble

An Americanism dating back to 1795–1805; hard + scrabble

Explanation

Something described as hardscrabble is difficult and challenging. Many people overcome a hardscrabble childhood and go on to achieve their dreams. During an economic depression, many people's lives become hardscrabble, as they fight to find work, or are unable to pay their bills without working two or three jobs. This sense of struggling just to metaphorically keep your head above water captures the meaning of hardscrabble. It's an early 19th-century coinage, first written in Lewis and Clark's journals, and referring to an imaginary place "where a livelihood may be obtained only under great hardship and difficulty."

Example Sentences

Twelve miles into our 16-mile day, we come to Hardscrabble, a two-tiered sustained ascent featuring sand bogs in the middle and at the end.

From Washington Post • Nov. 19, 2020

"Hardscrabble" is the word Americans use to describe a place like Rockport.

From BBC • Aug. 27, 2017

Anne-Marie Foltz, in town from New Haven, Conn., to visit her son Peter, who lives on nearby Hardscrabble Drive, was another early morning hiker who happened upon the rare spectacle.

From Washington Times • May 30, 2015

Mirren is good as the bat-winged, beatle-legged Dean Hardscrabble, but there's no depth to her haughtiness, no passion past her anger.

From The Guardian • Jun. 10, 2013

Hardscrabble canon is one of the most picturesque in the world, and then the beautiful mountain stream all the way, winding like a serpent down the valley.

From Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler His Life and Work by Alexander, Rev. Gross